Change
by MaddsLovesTwilight
Summary: Bella has 11 brothers and sisters, and has to move to Forks, Washington when her football coach father gets a huge promotion. She's mainly responsible for her siblings and she never thinks of herself, but then she meets Edward Cullen, and things change. Loosely based on CHeaper by the Dozen.
1. Character Bios

**This is a new story I thought of when I was thinking of the movie, Cheaper by the Dozen. This is based from the movie. Since this is a huge family we have here, I thought I should make a character bio's page. Whoo!**

_**The Parents**_

**Charlie Swan- **_Charlie is the father of the Swan family. He's a football coach, and his work gets in the way of everything else sometimes._

**Renne Swan- **_She's the mother, and of course, is somewhat irresponsible. She's a stay at home mom, and is always asking for help from the older children- mostly Bella because she's the oldest girl when Alex is gone and Michael can be reckless when it comes to his siblings._

* * *

_**The Highschoolers**_

**Alexandra Swan- (21) (Nicknames- Lex, Alex, Lexie) **_Oldest Swan daughter. She lives with her fiancé, but always comes home almost every other weekend to have dinner with her family. She is engaged to one of the most annoying men on the planet who has a huge ego for being on a toothpaste commercial on TV. _

(Hazel eyes, long auburn hair. Olive toned.)

**Michael Swan- (18) **_Oldest Swan son. He's graduating soon, and is all for football. _

(Curly brown hair, green eyes, and has a large build- works out for football. Tan.)

**Bella Swan- (17**) _Bella_ _puts up with everything around her (siblings, irresponsible mom, moving, school, ect.) She's always helping her mom around the house and drives siblings everywhere now that Alexandra is gone and with Michael busy with football and getting ready for college. She's very shy._

(Mahogany hair, brown eyes, pale.)

**Natalie Swan- (16) **_She's the girly girl, and a little bit over dramatic. She loves clothes, obsesses over what her hair looks like, and has a lot of friends- very popular. She always talks on her cell phone and loves shopping. She wants to get into fashion. _

(Long layered blond hair, blue eyes, tan(er), darker blond highlights.)

**Carly Swan- (14) **_She plays lacrosse and is sort of a tom boy, even though she rarely looks like one. Even though she's three years younger, she's closest to Bella, and she can't resist getting in trouble with Christopher and Alan whenever the chance comes._

(Dirty blonde hair, pale, big brown eyes.)

* * *

_**The Elementaries**_

**Sophia and Delilah Swan- (12) **_The only set of twins, they're identical. Sophia is slightly more shy than Delilah, but not by much. They are both a lot smarter for their age, and talk for each other out of habit. _

(Green eyes, long pale red hair. Pale. Freckles.)

**Christopher and Alan Swan (10) **The second pair of twins, right after Sophia and Delilah, bless Renne's heart. _Chris and Alan are each other's best friends and they always get in trouble over one another. It's been known that they either share the blame, or take turns by rock, paper, scissors to see how receives the punishment. Alan plays the obo and Chris plays the trumpet._

(Curly dirty blonde hair, green eyes, pale.)

**Aaron Swan- (9**_) He is always doing reckless things- jumping off of the third story staircase banister, hanging from a chandelier, ect…. He loves his skateboard, and is helping anyone who needs someone to be his stunt double. _

Curly dark hair, pale, hazel eyes.

**Eli Swan- (7) **_He's the shyest boy, and has five pets. He's blind and has a seeing- eye dog named Henry. He takes every chance to be independent and hates to be "babied". Bella admires him very much and worries about him at times. She may complain about his pets, but puts up with them anyways because she loves him dearly, like the rest of her family._

(Spiked auburn hair, olive toned, has extremely pale green eyes.)

_**The Baby**_

**Amanda Swan- (2) (Nicknames- Mandy) **_She's the baby who is always hungry. Cute and adorable, she's always keeping Renne busy, leaving Bella to help with the other siblings._

(Brown hair, blue eyes, pale.)

**Okay, yes this is slightly AU because Renne and Charlie are together and have ten children. (I know what y'all are thinking: GOOD GRIEF!) **

**I don't exactly know how everything is going to happen here, so I figured we would find out during the ride. Sound good? Please review, and tell me: What do you think I should name Alexandra's fiancé? TELL ME!**

*******AND YES, WE DO HAVE VAMPIRES IN THIS STORY***** **


	2. Bribes, Food Fights, and Frogs

**SUPER SUPER SUPER IMPORTANT! YOU MUST READ THIS TO UNDERSTAND THE CHAPTER:**

_**You need to look at the first chapter again- I added two new characters to the family- I realized that it's a family of fourteen with twelve kids. Ha! So please check the new characters out- Aaron and Natalie- before reading. I also changed Carly's character so please look at her bio also. BEFORE YOU READ!**_

_**Thank you. :D**_

* * *

_**B POV**_

_My room is too small._

Okay, technically it's not my room. Let me specify. I have eleven brothers and sisters. …And my house has three bedrooms. Sharing is easy, right? Tell that to the girl who has her fourteen year old sister's foot crammed in her face. Ew.

I was cramped on the bed in a fetal position, totally giving up on any chance of having a blanket tonight. Once again with this sharing concept. It doesn't work when you're 'sharing' one of the two beds in the room with your teenage sister, who apparently, doesn't like to wash her feet very often.

I considered getting up and nabbing a blanket from Michael, my eighteen year old brother who hogged the only other bed to himself. If I got the blanket, I would have to get up.

Get up, or lay there? Blanket or no blanket? I sighed. The smart, rational side of me knew that there was no point in just laying there if I didn't have the blanket. The stupid, lazy part of me was too lazy to get up anyways. Ugh.

Might as well _try _to get comfortable. I just laid there, preparing myself to exert energy at this early hour of the morning. I groaned quietly as I sat up, swinging my legs over the bed. I walked sluggishly to the other side of the room, not bothering to try to shut up the creak of old wooden floors. Both siblings would sleep through anything. I'm serious, a freight train could come hurtling through the room, and they would keep on dozing off like nothing happened.

I eventually made it to where Michael slumped in an awkward position on his bed, snoring up the whole room in a tangle of sheets and limbs. Aha, just what I was looking for. I tugged the afghan that he was laying on as hard as I could with no avail.

Damn football player.

I placed my foot on the bed post and got a good grip on the blanket. "One, two, _three,"_ I hissed under my breath, and shoved. Michael snored and rolled over on the lumpy mattress, not noticing a thing.

Flying back onto the hard floors, I banged my head on the desk at the foot of my bed. Ow. I rubbed the forming contusion that would soon be on my head, wincing slightly. I looked down in my other hand and grinned in triumph. A blanket! I rolled over and stood up slowly, hit by a wave of vertigo.

I caught myself and walked to the bed. I scooted Carly's long legs out of the way to find a small section of the bed. The blanket was so warm…. I gently let my eyes close as I curled up into a small ball, trying to keep the warmth from disappearing. I sighed in content as I was slowly relaxing with the sound of Michael's now gentle snores.

My eyes snapped open as the alarm clock rang five seconds after I had laid down.

_Ring, ring, ring…._

* * *

Getting everyone ready for the first day of school is like a circus.

All the younger kids have to wake up extra early along with the us highschoolers for the bus because they can't all fit in my car, and it's like pulling teeth getting everyone awake, eating breakfast, getting dressed, waiting in line for the bathroom, making lunch and getting them out the door.

I came into the hallway, dressed and ready for pouring water buckets on any reluctant wakers, to find Carly banging on the bathroom door with her lacrosse stick angrily.

"Get _out, _Natalie!" she shouted through the door.

I sighed and pulled her the stick away from her, rolling my eyes as I open the door calmly. Standing in front of the mirror was my sister Natalie, leaning over the sink with a tube of frosting pink lip gloss, completely ignoring everything around her. One day that girl is going to go crossed eyed from looking into the mirror so much.

"You can only put on so much lip gloss, Nat," I tried to reason for the sake of Carly's bladder. She huffed heatedly, looking up in the mirror to gaze at me.

"You ruined my concentration!" she yelled irritably. Suddenly a happy smile crossed her tan features. "Now I get to start all over again! Ha!" she squealed excitedly. I widened my eyes sardonically and pretended to look excited for her before closing the door. Carly and I exchanged a look.

"Go use mom and dad's bathroom," I suggested quickly before heading towards Sophia, Delilah, Christopher, Alan, and Eli's room to find the girl twins awake, braiding each other's hair, giving up on a mirror.

I opened my mouth to ask where the boys were, but Sophia cut me off, not even looking up to know that I was about to speak.

"We were able to get them up-" she started

"by persuading them. Boys are such unintelligent people," Delilah finished for her, staring intently at the French braid she was mastering in her twin's red hair.

My eyes widened. "What in the world did you bribe them with?" I questioned incredulously. They finally looked up at me, giving me looks that told me that it was something totally obvious that anyone could get.

"Um…. I don't want to know. Thank you," with the I rushed out the door, shaking my head. Twins….

If getting little kids up way early on the first day of school before the sun came up, then breakfast is like a zoo.

As I walked down the stairs to the kitchen, I dodged an orange cat being chased by a Dachshund, jumped over a beach ball, and ducked before a toy helicopter could chop my ear off like an expert.

_Helicopters. Toy helicopters. _Delilah and Sophia had bribed the boys with their toy helicopters that had magically disappeared three months ago. "Boys! Put those down right now and eat your breakfast before I throw the helicopters away!" I yelled, and almost instantly heard the sound of the toy being cut off.

I turned the corner to see Eli sitting at the table with his guide dog, Henry, sitting loyally by his side, eyeing the bacon that had been sitting on the table for a while now. Carly and Michael were sitting with him, waiting for breakfast, and my mom was busy feeding my baby sister, Amanda. Christopher and Alan walked over to the table grudgingly, scowls on their faces as they slid the bribes on the table. I could hear Sophia and Delilah coming down the stairs as I jogged into the kitchen.

I started making lunches and breakfast at the same time with my dad. He is the football coach for The Stallions,(Don't ask me if you've heard of them. You haven't. They're not exactly… good.), and is always on his job, so I was surprised to see him making breakfast for the family.

I worked in silence parallel to him as I smeared peanut butter on some bread. Natalie came storming down the stairs, and walked straight up to my father.

"Okay, I am totally aware that this family doesn't value self-presentation in the same obsessive way that I do. Fine. Whatever. But one of my life goals aside from being, like, a fashion guru is to indicate to the local community that the Swan family actually owns a bar of soap. So, as self-appointed in-house rep of style and hygiene, I think that I should be allotted at least five extra minutes in front of the mirror." I rolled my eyes.

"Three," my father shot at her, grinning, suddenly. He looked years younger.

"Done."

"Good, now help your sister butter the toast." and with that Charlie ducked out of the kitchen, leaving me alone with the teenager that had just made my job of getting everyone to school on time about three minutes harder.

I grabbed the plate of eggs without a word and strode out of the room. As I walked to put the platter on the table, I jumped and froze, staring down at the eggs. "What happened?" Natalie asked from the kitchen. _How weird, I thought I had heard…. _I shrugged and kept walking.

Natalie followed me to sit down at the table, placing the rest of breakfast on the long table. It was when everyone started eating again.

_Ribbit, ribbit._

Oh god, please no.

Eli's frog, Bean, had gotten out again and had found a nice spot to sit in- our breakfast. To be more exact, the scrambled eggs. And Alan was just about to salt the eggs. I didn't have a clue as to what would happen if you salted an amphibian, but I knew it wasn't good, which is why I stood up immediately and shouted,

"DROP THE SALT, ALAN SWAN!" Everybody stopped what they were doing to stare at me, wide eyes. I was usually one of the quietest people of the family, so when I yelled like that, something was up. Particularly shocked, Alan actually _dropped the salt shaker_. I watched in slow motion as the salt fell on the plate of eggs, causing three things to happen.

One, was Bean catapulting himself into the air, landing on Sophia's plate, making her squeal and stand up too fast, flinging her arms around, knocking her drink down in the process.

Two, my parents ran out of the room with Amanda in their arms, making sure to keep her out of harm's way.

And three, was that when Bean jumped into the air, he sent an explosion of food into Christopher's face, making him shout in protest, hurling a piece of toast at his twin, only to miss and hit Aaron instead. Knowing Aaron, this would only turn into one thing.

Food fight.

Kiss the idea of getting to school on time goodbye.

By the time my dad was able to break the food fight up (thank goodness that he was a football coach- I never really realized how handy a whistle could be until this morning) and Natalie had gotten all of the egg out of her hair, we were in a rush to get of the house.

"Don't you want to eat a_nything_, Bella?" Renne asked, slightly concerend.

"No thanks mom, I already got a mouthful of foot this morning," I said, shooting a glare to my sister. She pretended not to notice.

"Okay, Carly, your suspension from lacrosse for excessive force has been lifted, so you're going today," I told her, handing her her lunch bag, and pushed her out the door.

"Yes!" she shouted in triumph.

"Alan, and Chris- you have band practice, all right? Alan, I cleaned your obo. Please don't play with food in your mouth again. You both have dentist's appointments today at three o'clock, so you're going to work with Dad." I handed them their lunches and pressed them out the exit at the same time.

I heard my dad groan from the other room.

"Delilah, Soph, your teacher called and has made a request that you do not correct her in front of the class. Woah, hold it," I stopped them and surveyed their clothing.

"Sophia, why are you dressed like Delilah, and why does Delilah look like Sophia?" I asked irritably. I hadn't noticed before in my rush.

They rolled their eyes. "We're making a statement to show that-"

"our friends should be able to tell us apart even on the first day-"

"and that twins have separate mannerisms-"

"so they shouldn't dress according to orthodox stereotypes," they told me in a hurry. I sighed and shook my head. They ran out the door, and I continued to recite my mental list.

"Aaron, you have show-and-tell today. And please remember that body parts do not count!" he groaned and nodded reluctantly. I tried to pass him his lunch bag but he pushed it back in my hands.

"I don't want to take my lunch today," he stated, crossing his arms. I took out my wallet and handed him a five.

"Thanks, Bells!" he shouted as he took the money and darted out.

Natalie rolled her eyes and scoffed as she walked past me, grabbing the five dollar bill that I already had extended toward her.

Michael mussed my hair playfully as he took the sack lunch from my hands- peanut butter and jelly was always his thing- and said, "You're the best, Bella," before running to his car.

I stumbled after him, and we all jumped into our cars- Carly, Natalie, Sophia, and Delilah with me, Aaron with Michael in his own car, and Christopher and Alan with my dad.

I jammed the keys into the ignition and was about to pull out when Renne came running out of the car with Amanda on her hip.

"Everyone be home for dinner tomorrow night!" She shouted, waving frantically with her free arm. "Alexandra is coming with her boyfriend tomorrow and she says they have good news!" she yelled excitedly.

Everybody groaned in unison. Alexandra's boyfriend was the most, disgusting, annoying, irritating, rude, selfish person on the face of the planet, and I can explain him in two simple words:

Jacob Black.

* * *

**Sorry to and Jacob lovers! I personally love Jacob's character, so please no flames! This is easily an AU story. (Yes the Cullens- vampires- will come soon enough when Bella's family has to move)**

**R&R **


	3. Part One

****

PART ONE

**B POV**

**PART ONE**

* * *

Jacob Black. The most annoying, self centered, egotistical, disrespectful, rude person in the Olympic Peninsula. And Alex chose him. Why she did is beyond me, but every Saturday night they came to our house for dinner, all the way from the tiny reservation of La Push, where Jacob lived and she had moved in.

"Wait, wait, WAIT!"

Eli was stumbling out of the house, nearly knocking into my mother with Henry pulling him along the way, desperately trying to slow him down. Renee handed him his lunch sack, Amanda smiling down at him lovingly.

I heard Eli grumble to himself as he let Henry guide him to Michael's car, "Sure, leave the blind kid behind just cuz he has to pee…" I muffled a laugh. I truly felt sorry for how his blindness effected him, but he took it so well. He was a strong little trooper, and I truly admired him for it.

Hopefully, we could. all be when Jacob came over tonight. We didn't want a replay of the first time we met him.

**

* * *

****(FLASHBACK)**

I leaned against the doorjamb of the kitchen staring at my mother as she fluttered around the kitchen animatedly. I mentally screamed at my siblings to get ready. She was twittering over the phone with Alexandra about her new boyfriend , Jacob Black, who, apparently, we would meet for the first time tonight at dinner.

Dinner, right.

Renee ended the conversation, clicking the end button victoriously, and turned to beam at me. "They'll be here in an hour! Isn't this great? Alexandra has a boyfriend and he's coming for dinner!" I pretended like this was the first time I had heard this.

"So what are we having?" I watched as her grin gradually fade. I let out a small laugh. "Don't worry, Mom, I already ordered the pizza." And with that I left the kitchen to call the kids in from inside to get ready for what would be a very… entertaining night.

--

Something you need to know about Carly is that she is a very kind, understanding person.

Until something irritates her.

Then she gets evil and diabolical.

So when Jacob "accidentally" fell into the neighbor's pool, with Carly right there, laughing her head off with her partners in crime, I didn't take it as a coincidence.

And then you take the description I gave you of Jacob, put it together with Carly's when she doesn't like somebody, and you get an eventful meal.

To back up my theory were four things that made me extremely suspicious that night:

One, was the expression on her face the second Jacob sat down at the dinner table. I knew that face all too well. Something bad was going to happen, and judging by the way she looked at our sister's boyfriend, it would be aimed at Jacob.

Two, her absence when my mother came back into the living room from putting Jacob's clothes into the dryer to talk to him, who was in my father's bathrobe.

Three, that I was missing two twin boys and an accident prone nine year old at the table for dinner when Jacob was fully clothed. And nobody seemed to notice except for me.. Of course.

Four. Under the table, right next to me, was a walkie talkie taped to the table. I don't know about you, but when I see things like that under my dinner table, it sets off a signal that my devil sister is up to no good.

Every few seconds Carly's eyes would switch from Jacob to the walkie talkie, and her face would grow even more anticipative. Finally, and ever so slowly, she nonchalantly 'dropped' her fork.. I glared at her as she went to retrieve it. Carly snickered.

As she stooped under the table, she un-taped the walkie talkie and hissed into the speaker, "Release the hound!"

My eyes popped open. The hound Buster the bulldog.

Not. Good.

I dashed under the table and grabbed Carly's arm and yanked her up from under the table just in time, barely dodging the huge, full grown, male bull dog rampaging down through under the table, his main goal- Jacob.

"OH MY GOD! GET IT OFF! OH MY GOD!" I watched in slow motion as Jacob fell backwards in his chair, Buster with him, refusing to let go.

Suddenly, three boys and a girl popped up around my head, gwaffing like hyenas.

They were so in trouble.

--

From the stairs, I watched as Christopher, Alan, Aaron, and Carly stood in a line in front of Charlie in the living room. In the other room, I could hear Renee telling Jacob to stop cursing. I pressed my lips to no avail to halt the stream of laughter from eluding.

My attention was pulled back to the room in front of me when Charlie spoke.

"You soaked his underwear in meat. That is so wrong. Funny, but wrong." I slapped my palm to my mouth.

"Who was the master mind, here?" he asked in a questioning, threatening voice, eyeing them all. From the corner of her eye, Charlie glanced at the twins.

They slowly stepped forward, staring down at their shoes. I rolled my eyes. Charlie arched an eyebrow as he watched Chris pick his nose and Alan sniff the newfound booger on his brother's finger.

"Try again," Charlie murmured. They stepped back obediently, grinning. My father walked from the start of the line, pausing at each head, staring every child down, before stopping finally at the very end. Carly.

Of course.

"You have a dark gift, Carly Swan."

**(END FLASHBACK)**

* * *

I shook my head, trying to erase the memory and backed out of the driveway, throwing Michael a dirty look for almost rear- ending me during the process.

"Jacob is such a doorknob!" Natalie deemed from the backseat once we were speeding down the road, crossing her arms in the mirror. I sighed. Jacob wasn't exactly my favorite person in the world, but it didn't mean I would openly offend him… on a daily basis. In my mind… well that was another matter.

"Be nice, Natalie," I reprimanded, not really meaning it.

"He irons his jeans," Carly said matter- of- factly.

I had no response to that.

* * *

"It's gettin' so as I can hardly go out in public any more. I mean, really, between the autograph hounds and the paparazzi…" I rolled my eyes and stabbed my Chinese food with my fork when Jacob continued to blab about his "newfound fame".

"Autographs and everything? I mean, just the one toothpaste commercial, and you have paparazzi?" Charlie asked intently, leaning across the table. Something even more incredible than Alexandra's affection for Jacob was that Charlie approved.

A complex look of confusion crossed Jacob's face. I could almost laugh. "Yeah. I've never actually seen them, but… you know… they hide in the bush and... they get their shot," he mumbled pathetically. Yeah, and I get shot everyday because I'm on America's top wanted list.

Aaron spat his milk across the table, snorting, coughing, and laughing at the same time as he spewed it in Michael's face. Everyone snickered at his face. Well… everyone but Michael.

"Yes, um. Alex, honey, why don't you tell us your great news," my mom asked while she fed Amanda, sounding embarrassed for Aaron.Alexandra looked around the whole table, her face lingering on mine for half a second longer than the others. She took Jacob's hand while he continued stuffing his face. "We're getting married!" She squealed excitedly.

Aaron spat milk again, but I was too busy gaping at my oldest sister to laugh.

* * *

**Yes, I know, it's short, but for a reason. This is only PART ONE. Next chapter will be part two. Please review. :D **


	4. Part Two

"_Lower_!" Aaron hissed, his voice echoing up from the laundry chute, way too loud for my liking. I leaned over Delilah cautiously to gradually release more of the rope I was grasping. I pressed my lips, resisting the urge to let go of the cord so I could smack Michael away, his hot breath on my neck as he watched in amused curiosity. Even Natalie had lurked downstairs to investigate.

"Stop!" Everyone froze, waiting for Aaron to give us the next signal to pull him back up with the big news.

Charlie had come home from work, a grin on his face.

"Where's your mother?" he had asked me. I told him that she was in their bedroom, and he had kissed my head. Exchanging looks with my siblings, we slowly followed.

"Hey do you know-" Charlie had spun around on us, surprised to see eight kids crouched right behind him. Crud. His eyes narrowed. "Never mind then," he had grumbled, picking up his speed to find Renee. "Hey, good news!" he greeted Renee as we listened with our ears pressed to the door.

"What good news?" she asked suspiciously, and I couldn't blame her. It had been a long time since Charlie Swan had come home from work with pleasant news.

He had paused, and that was our cue. "Run!" I whispered frantically.. We fled to the stairs, piling on top of each other. I had picked up Eli and jumped to the stairs just as my parents had walked out of their room, Charlie's eyes disbelieving as he saw an empty room.

"Laundry room," was all he said. Chris and Alan gave each other a look. This was something big that Charlie didn't want us to hear. I had slapped my hand over Carly's mouth as she started to say something right when our parents walked across the living room, Amanda in hand. We paused, waiting until we heard the retreating footsteps fade down the stairs into the laundry room- originally the basement. Henry barked.

"Get the rope!" Aaron had jumped over the stair railing and scurried to find his cable where he hid it from Renee.

"Don't forget the helmet," I warned, looking pointedly at my brother. He had merely grinned sheepishly.

"What's going on?" Eli demanded. Sophia hurriedly explained as everyone had scrambled to the back of the kitchen where the laundry chute was. Aaron had been lowered down the laundry chute with protection gear on his head and a lasso tied around his feet, eavesdropping to hear the "good news".

And now, my fingers were starting to slip. "Help me!" I hissed at Natalie as the rope grew harder and harder to grasp. She shook her head, looking at me as if I was crazy. Of course not; _she could break a nail_. I rolled my eyes at her. "Guys, the rope is slipping!" I said louder.

"Crap," Alan grumbled as everyone except for the princess tried to take hold of the rope. Michael finally grew some brain cells and took hold of the rope, allowing me to get a better grip while he supported most of the weight. Just as my parent's footsteps were heard on the metal stairs coming back up to the kitchen, Aaron shouted,

"Up! Up!"

"Pull, quick!" I commanded, and everyone hauled the boy up.

"What's going on?" Delilah challenged, impatient.

"We're moving!"

"WHAT?!" Everyone dropped the rope in surprise, Aaron plummeting down the laundry chute, eventually landing in the dirty clothesbasket with a loud thud.

Charlie and Renee walked through the kitchen. "What's everyone doing over here, dinner doesn't start for an hour," Renee seemed dumbfounded; it was war trying to get everyone down for dinner in time. Nobody said anything as Aaron's words echoed through our heads.

_We're moving?_

* * *

"Family meeting, kids," Charlie called from the living room. I felt Carly's eyes on my face as we walked down the stairs to sit on the couch later that night after dinner. Everyone crammed in the small living space, looking expectantly at our parents as Renee tried to dial Lex's number without Amanda getting her hands on the phone.

Of course my mother was just as excited about moving as my father, making one of her famous split decisions that effected everyone else's lives in the house without a second glance.

This should be interesting, I thought to myself as she finally got the phone to call the number.

'Hey, Mom, what's up?" Alex's frazzled voice sounded.

"Every once in a while, I carve a pumpkin with a knife made of lollipop sticks…," Jacob's voice could be heard, mumbling incoherently. He sounded slightly drunk. I smothered my laughter as Renee's eyes widened in shock.

"Honey, you're on speaker. We have something to tell everyone. Say hi to the kids."

"Oh, hey, guys.. Jacob," I could barely catch the sound of a slap over the line.

"Ouch!"

"Say hi to the family," she whispered.

"Uh.. Hi?"

"Close enough," Alexandra grumbled to herself, making me snort.

"Charlie," my mom motioned for him to speak as Amanda started pulling her hair playfully.

"As you know, I'm the football coach for the Stallions…" Michael rolled his eyes. I leaned forward, sure that my theory of why we were moving was true. "And I just got a job promotion to coach the Mustangs." I arched an eyebrow. Mustangs, Stallions- they all sounded the same.

"Who are the Mustangs?" Eli asked. Charlie grinned.

"They are a football team for Seattle, Washington."

The room was dead silent except for Alex's breathing over the speaker.

"Come on! It's a much better job, guys. That means more money. They're a much better team, they're more professional… And guys," he leaned in closer to us, "They can actually play!" I sighed. He was so… happy. He wanted this so _badly_.

"Dad, Jacob just moved in!" Alex protested, voice sounding like static over the line.

"I have family in Washington, babe. We can work it out, get away from the fans for a while," Jacob cut in, making me want to gag. Of all the luck…

"See? It all works out," Renee piped happily.

"I have friends here," Natalie spat.

"Dad, what about football? I was planning to try out for the team and everything!" My heart throbbed painfully for my brother; he had worked so hard to get ready for tryouts.

"Try outs don't start till later in the year at your new school," I couldn't help but be impressed. In such a short time, Charlie had covered a lot of ground.

"Natalie, you can make new friends; you're good at that," Renee stepped in. I grimaced, not the best thing to say. Natalie crossed her arms, fighting angry tears.

"What school would we go to?" I asked, curious.

"We are going to try to find a house in the town of Forks. It's a smaller town, not too far from my work, and they have a great school system," Charlie countered, seeming proud of himself.

"What if they don't allow kids with seeing eye dogs?" Eli murmured, sounding scared, stroking Henry's head worriedly.

"Of course they will, and I'm sure they'll love Henry. Everybody, this is a good thing. You'll each get your own room!" I looked over at Renee in surprise. My own room?

"I want to share a room with Sophie!" Delilah protested. I laughed at the cliché that they so often rejected in life.

"That's perfectly fine," Renee reassured them. The room was silent as everyone let think sink in. I wanted to slam my head in the car door thinking about how hard this would be on the kids.

"Guys, come on. I promise you, we will be a happier, stronger family."

Now, _that_ was cliché.

-:-

I honked the car horn for at least the fifteenth time that day. Watching Natalie say goodbye to her friends for an hour while everyone else scurried around the lawn for last minute moving details four months later wasn't part of the day's schedule.

An hour later, everyone was ready to start driving for ten hours to Washington. Goodbye Boise Stallions, hello Seattle Mustangs.

Somehow, I couldn't get myself into greeting a "happier, stronger family".

Seemed more like a fantasy than a reality.

* * *

**I'm sorry this took so long, guys, but I've been updating on other stories and such… But the next chapter includes the one and only… -drum roll please- EDWARD CULLEN! **

**B/N: ****FINALLY Madds decides to put ACTION into meeting EDWARD CULLEN.. XD REVIEW PEOPLES! OR I M CALLING BELLA'S FAMILY TO EAVESDROP ON YOU****!!**

**Preview of the next chapter…**

"_How are your classes going?" I heard Angela ask Carly, a sweet smile on her face. I tuned them out as I watched Michael drift over to the other football jocks, heard Natalie gushing with Jessica over the school gossip. _

"_Who is he?" Natalie asked enthusiastically, and I automatically turned my head to see what she could possibly be so excited about in such a small town._

_She was staring at an impossibly beautiful family farthest away from our table, particularly the gloriously handsome boy with bronze hair. _

_By the familiar possessive tone in Natalie's voice, I could tell that she wouldn't waste much time before she asked him out._

"_That's Edward Cullen."_

**R&R!!!**


	5. New House, New Enemy Perfect

**Long time no… read? :D An awesome reviewer has reminded me that this story does follow the plot of Cheaper by the Dozen very closely right now, and I want to make sure that you guys know that the plot changes a lot as I get deeper into the story. I don't own Cheaper by the Dozen or Twilight plots. **

**Thanks and please read and review, my darling readers. **

Carly knows her feet stink, and I'm sad to say that she takes every chance she gets to use her powers for pure evil. Once again I was woken by a smelly foot being prodded at my face mercilessly. I shoved her foot away with half the effort, groaning from the aches brought by my awkward sleeping position.

"Wake up. We're here," she ordered before jumping out of my now very road worn truck. I quietly thanked Natalie for driving the last hour on our long travel before stepping unsteadily on flat ground. I gazed up to the new place I would now have to call home, and I had to admit that the house was beautiful. I might have gone as far as to call this a mansion by its towering size.

Multiple windows adorned the white painted outer walls of the house, and huge tree stood in the middle of the front lawn; its bare branches swaying to the slight breeze of the day. The drive way curved around to the front of the house with forest green shrubs dappling the front two doors, including the cute little fence at the front.

On the right side, there was a cylinder type of room attached to the side of the "house" with a peaked cone top that I automatically called, earning a few groans from my siblings.

Despite the ivory second few floors, the bottom section was a nice chocolate brick color, which in my opinion was a good idea since dirt and grime could splash the ground level considering the damage my siblings would leave, but the snow white walls of the top floors would be untouched by the dirt my brothers could cause.

Porches were placed at both sides of the house from where I was standing. I would've moved, but my legs seemed to be frozen on the spot, too pleasantly astonished by the magnificent house to function properly.

It was like a ray of sunlight against the heavily depressing sky that back grounded the building.

The peaceful scene was quiet entirely ruined by nine kids stampeding for the house like there was no tomorrow, desperate to find the perfect room in the large dwelling. I took my time walking into the house, admiring the wooden floors, the long stairways and amazing crystal chandelier. I slowly strolled up the winding staircases, remembering my tendency to fall and hurt myself.

I found that the room I wanted was on the topmost floor, the only other rooms in the hall were a bathroom and another bedroom. Out of utmost stubbornness, Eli chose that room, though I begged him to pick a bedroom on the bottom floor to avoid tripping on stairs. He refused. I sighed and shook my head as I opened the door to my new room. It was a huge perfect square, the far wall with four square windows that allowed the extremely faint evening light to shine through the room, making dust particles appear and disappear in mid air. I began unloading my suitcase, knowing that it wouldn't take me long at all to settle in.

Only an hour later, my room was complete, and Michael had ever so gracefully set my mattress down in the middle of the room on the bed set against the wall. Perfect. I plopped down on it with a huff and stared up at the pointed ceiling and the rafters, thinking about tomorrow in a new school in the middle of the semester. I immediately tried to block these thoughts out, squeezing my eyes shut and stretching out on my full size bed. My own room.

I could get used to this.

~/~/~

Driving up to the easily spotted Forks High School was torture, having kids in the parking lot all turn to see what the loud wheezing sound coming from my truck was. I concentrated on finding a spot while Natalie and Carly sunk as low as they could in their seats.. So far, so good, right? I cut off the engine as soon as possible to avoid any more attention and threatened to drag my sisters out of the truck by their hair if they didn't get out the instant my feet touched solid ground. Grumbling under their breath, they ungratefully and ungracefully obliged.

I started off for the front office with Carly and Natalie stalking behind. As soon as we got our schedules and maps together, like the good sisters they were, both of them left in different directions mumbling their goodbyes and leaving me in the front office staring down at my paper, trying to imagine how my younger siblings were fending. Hopefully, they were doing better than I was.

Before long, I found myself trailing behind Natalie and her new best friend forever, Jessica Stanley, a gossipy and talkative girl with wild hair, along with Angela Weber, a quieter girl I could grow to like, and Carly off to the side as I followed them to the cafeteria to find an empty table. I tried to ignore the stares and fought the urge to look for my high school siblings. I felt enough like an outsider already, and I didn't need to see the rest of my family getting perfectly along in this new place without me.

"How are your classes going?" I heard Angela ask Carly, a sweet smile on her face. I tuned them out as I involuntarily catch Michael drift over to the other football jocks, hear Natalie gushing loudly with Jessica about the latest school gossip- whatever that was.

"Who is he?" Natalie quizzed enthusiastically; her voice going high, and I automatically turned my head to see what she could possibly be so excited about in such a small dreary town.

She was forwardly gaping at an impossibly beautiful family farthest away from our table, particularly the gloriously handsome boy with bronze hair.

By the familiar possessive tone in Natalie's voice, I could tell that she wouldn't waste much time before she asked him out.

"That's Edward Cullen."

As if she had called his name out loud, the boy that must have been Edward turned his head to stare at Jessica with uninterested eyes. Both girls immediately erupted into a fit of giggles, and I rolled my eyes at the very thought of imagining Natalie confronting the Greek God. Bored, I turned back to my lunch, unscrewing the lid to my water bottle.

The annoying flow of high pitch laughter kept going until I could barely retain my scowl as I looked up at them impatiently. "Edward Cullen is staring at you," Jessica mouthed, peeking over at Natalie's suddenly very envious face. I glanced up at the mysterious table in disbelief, only to be completely caught off guard by a pair of curious, demanding pitch black eyes.

His face was undeniably beautiful, and it was almost impossible to look away. Almost. I ripped my gaze over to his other family members, who were equally perfect in every way. He seemed to have two other brothers, one well muscled with curly dark hair and dimples, the other tall and lanky with flawless blonde hair. They both looked like they could pass as inhumanly good-looking college professors instead of high schoolers.

The girls weren't a disappointment either- one was insanely beautiful model looking with long golden hair that waved down her back, and the other was the complete opposite. She was petite, had stylishly spiked black hair, and had very tiny fairy- like features.

But they were all the same in a very obvious way- drop dead gorgeous.

I looked back at Edward, surprised to see him still staring at me, the look on his face putting me off. He looked almost dissatisfied in some way, and it bothered me to no end. I shook my head in confusion and stood up, walking out of the cafeteria without another word or a look back. I tried my best to ignore the constant giggles that echoed behind me or the two eyes burning holes in the back of my head as I walked out the doors and started my trek for my next class- biology.

I peeked into the classroom that Natalie would also be in this period to see absolutely nobody in it. Not knowing what to do with myself, I headed to the bathroom. I stared into the mirror at my reflection. Plain brown hair with matching eyes and fair skin was what I had been used to my whole life. I didn't see anything that Edward Cullen had a right to find so extremely terrible. Maybe he had just been comparing my ordinary looks to Natalie's blonde streaked beauty.

I sighed and exited the room to go back to the now almost filled biology room. I internally kicked myself for not coming back earlier; now Natalie had a seat with one of her new friends that she probably didn't even know that well, and now I had to find a seat without looking like a complete loser. The only seat left was next to Edward Cullen.

Of course.

The teacher signed my form without looking and pointed to where I already knew I had to sit. "Lucky!" Natalie mouthed at me from across the room. I rolled my eyes and started for my chair. I looked over at Edward just as he was pulling all of his books to his side of the table, his expression unreadable. I avoided his eyes while I focused on the tile floor and my rain boots when I got closer to the lab table, embarrassed of his staring at lunch.

I heard a small gasp from Natalie, and I looked up sharply to see her staring at Edward with wide eyes. I looked to see what had surprised her and froze as well. His expression had changed from calm and guarded to completely furious and somewhat dangerous, almost frightening.

"Miss Swan, care to sit, please?" The teacher cleared his throat impatiently and I felt the blood rush to my face as I quickly pulled my chair out and sat down. Edward's reaction was offendingly bizarre; he covered his mouth with one of his snow white hands and faced away from me, eyes tortured and livid when he moved his chair as far away from me as possible. I was taken aback.

I stared at the clock for ten minutes and he hadn't moved an inch. I could feel Natalie's eyes on me as I slowly peeked up at him through my hair. I immediately put my head down on my arm once I saw his cold stare. This was going to be a long hour.

~/~/~

I was in a daze driving back home that day, flashbacks of the cafeteria, Edward Cullen's distasteful glowers in biology class, and just as the bell rang, he was out of the classroom almost too fast for me to see.

But Natalie saw it all and refused to let me live it down. The whole miserable car ride home she blabbed on and on about how handsome he was, when she was going to talk to him, whether he would ever say yes to her, and then, my favorite, how much he seemed to hate me.

Carly rolled her eyes at me, silently telling me to brush it off, and that he probably just wasn't feeling well today or something.

But I wasn't about to tell her that on my way to the truck I had overheard him talking to the small girl with the black hair by the car that must have belonged to him- a shiny Volvo. They seemed to be arguing heatedly about something I couldn't quiet hear. I barely caught the words biology and girl before they abruptly stopped talking to stare at me, the fairy like girl with sorrow and interest filled eyes, Edward with cold, unforgiving black wells.

I had shuddered and picked up my pace to my truck at the end of the lot, staring straight ahead until the engine roared awake and I was far, far away from the school and more importantly, Edward Cullen.

**I'm sorry it's taking me so long to update! ): I really hope that I'm not losing a lot of readers cuz you guys have been freaking AMAZING with reviewing. On both of the last two chapters I've gotten ten reviews EACH, and it truly makes me so happy and it MOTIVATES ME!**

**PS The sweet house description was written by my beta when I was coming up blank so tell us if you liked it or not! (Yes, I did use the same house from the movie; I think it's adorable, but I don't own it.)**

Let's try to get to 12 reviews PLEASE and I will reward you with a very awesome and hopefully quick update. To motivate YOU, here is a preview of ze next chapter:

_I absolutely could not believe my eyes as I noted two things both in the same five seconds. One, after three whole weeks of absolute peace and quiet, Edward had suddenly reappeared and was sitting with the rest of his family again at lunch as if he was never gone. Joy._

_And two, Natalie was heading straight for his table, swift determination in her eyes. Crap._


	6. Confrontation

That night, after enjoying a calming, steaming shower- yes the water was actually hot- in _my own bathroom_, I automatically went to bed, only to lay in my own silence for many hours, unsuccessfully trying not to think of stupid Edward Cullen. I tossed and turned, my eyes squeezed shut as images flew past my mind's eye of the day's events. The pounding rain that was energized by the relentless wind in Forks didn't help with my dilemma. I finally drifted into a restless slumber, only to feel like I hadn't gotten five minutes of sleep when I woke up the next morning.

I dressed in silence, staring out the many shaded windows of the gray sky, past what seemed to be thousands of emerald green trees in the distance. For breakfast I didn't eat anything more than a simple bowl of cereal, knowing I might not be able to stomach anything more. I distracted myself with making lunches and handing out money; I was mentally preparing myself for what I had decided to do to deal with this strange, impossible boy.

I would walk right into that biology class, ignoring everyone else except for this mysterious and slightly threatening Edward Cullen and insist to know what his problem was with me. I swallowed hard as I drove through the rain slicked roads, imagining what his expression could possibly be, and my stomach started performing uneasy flips at this intimidating mental image. I knew I was a huge coward, but I had to do it. There was no way I could handle this whole school year with him glaring at me without reason. Easy, right?

I was sitting down at my third period class and massaging my temples with my eyes closed, counting the seconds until an excruciating lunch that I would have to endure in less than an hour. "Hi… You don't look so good, are you feeling okay?" I opened my eyes in slow disbelief to check and see if this new male voice had been regarding myself. I focused on spiky blonde hair and a baby face framing a pair of what seemed to be overly concerned blue eyes. This answered my question. Yes, this boy was asking me if I was _feeling okay_.

"Yeah, I'm just fine. Thanks," I said, forcing a smile, hoping that he would turn away.

"Oh. You just looked a little stressed or something. I'm Mike Newton."

"Bella." Mike Newton stared at me expectantly, but I ignored it.

"So, you're new here, right? That's pretty cool, I guess. You don't seem like the other new kids here. All of a sudden these new people show up, and now you. Freaky, huh?" I didn't find this the least bit "freaky", but I decided just to nod instead. "Uh, how are your classes so far? Need any help finding them..?" I wondered why he was being so persistent on talking and asking me these unnecessary questions. The bell rang then, and I smiled in relief.

"No thanks, Mike. I'm doing all right on my own, but I'll see you around." I stood up and started for the door, ready to get out of that classroom, though no way was I prepared to go to the cafeteria.

"Wait, Bella." I sighed and turned at the door. "You never said what your last name was…" he trailed off, and I internally cringed, knowing what he had to be wondering. _Was she with that '"freaky" new family?_

Best get it over with.

"Bella Swan." With that I left the room, knowing he probably wouldn't want to talk to me anymore. This cheered me up just a little bit.

~/~/~

My stomach started performing Olympic gold medal flips walking down the hall with Carly to lunch, and I knew it was showing. "Bells, you look pale…er. Everything okay?" I pretended to grin breezily at her.

"Yeah, sure." I knew I was making this a bigger deal than I should be, but the scowling, hateful boy I that I would be confronting in the next period was going to be sitting _right across the room_. I was afraid that one look at his stone cold features would make me chicken out and go through another hour of stiffening silence, or maybe just fleeing to the nurse's office like the wimpy, cowardly chicken I was born to be. I had to get it over with, discover what his problem was, and possibly be able to switch desks, or do something to make this meaningless issue disappear.

I ducked my head, being the spineless person I was, when we walked over to the same table we sat at the previous day. I slowly gathered up all of my courage, peeking up through my long hair just to check and see if he might be looking in my relative direction with those ebony eyes. If he was, I would look down immediately, not daring to look anything in the eye until I was out of that cafeteria, mustering up the guts to crawl all the way back up the well to reach the top again.

Determination drove me to reluctantly glance up for the quickest of seconds, and….

He wasn't there… He. Wasn't. There. Not there?

I sat very still for the next ten minutes, glancing tensely at the door every few seconds in case he would come in at any given moment. He never did. I avoided going to class until the very last minute, walking very slowly until I was hesitating at the classroom door. What if he had skipped lunch and was _in there?_ My preparation time had been crushed, but I still had half a mind to question him. Sucking in a big breath of air, I walked right in that tiny class room, my will feeling as weak as Jell-o. No Edward.

Maybe this wouldn't be as hard a day as I imagined it to be…

~/~/~

To my surprise and confusion, every day for the past week and a half, the Cullen family table was missing one member at lunch. This couldn't be because of me, could it? Some dreading, anxious feeling I had in the pit of my stomach told me that I had to do with this. One more thing to add to the list of perplexing things concerning the Cullen family. I had only been in the town of Forks for about a week, and I their last name already felt like a casual occurrence in my mind. What was going on?

The ominous feeling of facing Edward in school stealthily subsided in my mind as my pile of chores and duties grew higher and higher, but this didn't stop the choking feeling I felt every so often when I thought of him leaving because of something I had unintentionally done.

Now, about two weeks after Edward's going missing, I walked down the hall on the way to lunch and started preparing a mental list in my head of the things I had to do that day, including going to the grocery store that weekend, giving Henry a bath, helping Christopher with his math, planning ideas to keep Carly as far away from Jacob and any dangerous tools as possible when he came over tomorrow night with Alex to see the house…. Oblivious to the moderately loud babble of gossip that I learned to ignore from Natalie and Jessica, I walked right into the cafeteria and into the line for the first time; I had been too busy with feeding Amanda to make lunches.

I glanced back at Natalie behind me and did a double take, frozen as I watched my confident sister in what seemed to be slow motion.

I absolutely could not believe my eyes as I noted two things both in the same five seconds. One, after three whole weeks of absolute peace and quiet, Edward had suddenly reappeared and was sitting with the rest of his family again at lunch as if he was never gone. _Joy._

And two, Natalie was heading straight for his table, swift determination in her eyes. _**Crap.**_

Slow motion suddenly switched off, and I launched into action, pushing past Michael's bulky form and running after Natalie Swan, ready to drag her across the cafeteria to get her away from the problem that was sure to come. Images of Edward's face from weeks ago told me that it wouldn't end well if she went through with this.

She was half way to the Cullen table when I got to her, looping my arm through hers and spinning on my heel, successfully turning her in the other direction. "Stop!" I said, ready for the horns.

"What's your problem? If you would excuse me I have something to take care of, Bella. Now move." I sighed.

"Natalie, I don't think this is a good idea."

"Why, 'cause you didn't get to him first? Too bad, Bells." She tried to push past me, but I held my ground, pulling out my authoritative glare, and her eyes tightened. "Fine. I wont do this now, but next period, I'm going for it, and you can't stop me." We stared each other down for a few more seconds before I gave in and started my death march for the next class, my appetite lost in my intense effort to ignore the stare that was inferno stare in the back of my head, just like before.

When I entered the classroom, I tried to slow my breathing and sat down at the table I would now have to share with someone who obviously hated me. I worked hard on keeping my eyes down and focused on the chalkboard ahead, cursing myself internally for not brining a book to read. Looking up, I met Natalie's gaze evenly when she walked to her seat, right before, you guessed it; Edward Cullen made his cameo. I stared at my fisted hands as I dreaded what was about to come. Skeptically, I looked up at him with guarded eyes, and I'm sure that they widened about five sizes.

His eyes weren't black anymore, they were _gold_, and he didn't seem threatening in the least bit. I couldn't breathe, I was caught so off guard. He opened his mouth to speak, but someone else's voice cut him off.

"Hi." We both looked up to see my sister, Natalie Swan, in front of our table, smiling ear to ear. I sighed, preparing myself for a front row seat. I closed my eyes, not wanting to endure it.

"Alright, class, sorry I'm late. Take your seats, please." My eyes flew open to see a very surprised Natalie and a very dazzling and perplexed Edward Cullen. With a furious glance in my direction, my sister angrily stomped over to her table, which I had just noticed that she shared with Mike Newton, who didn't seem to be "freaked" out at all.

Typical.

I turned back to the person sitting next to me, thinking I was dreaming. Because this Edward Cullen was totally and completely different from the way he had been only a few weeks ago. And he was smiling. He was still sitting as far away from me as possible, but he was _smiling at me_. And he was just too much like a Greek God for me to stand. I looked away from him, seeing his smile fade from the corner of my eye.

Even though I kept my eyes completely glued to the teacher, I didn't hear a single word he said through the whole class. All I could concentrate on was the gorgeous and insanely impossible, unpredictable person sitting next to me and Natalie using her eyes to stab arrows of guilt at me from behind.

Once I turned to see Edward looking at me and blushed bright red and immediately turning away again, but I felt him stiffen next to me, his pale hands crushed into strong fists. My eyes widened in shock. The bell rang, echoing in my head as Edward left the room quicker than he had before. I sighed and left the classroom, ready to go home.

~/~/~

"Could you see him, Bella? He totally changed after I left. He must have been disappointed that he didn't get to talk to me. You're so lucky to sit next to him, but he'll probably want to switch with Mike after a few days with me."

I rolled my eyes and picked up my pace in the parking lot, leaving Carly to deal with the obnoxious Natalie by herself. I muttered under my breath as angry tears formed behind my eyes, clenching my teeth in chagrin.

I unlocked my truck early so I could make a quick entry in my truck to wallow. I turned the corner, looking up tiredly only to catch my heart in my throat. I stood there, frozen, and I think my face turned about three shades paler than usual in just one second flat.

Edward Cullen was standing by my truck, looking right at me.

**Alrighty first, I want to thank every one of you who reviewed and got me my twelve! Y'all went _PAST_ the twelve! I'm gonna cry, seriously. (: I hope this was fast enough, please review, and tell me what you think! **

**Next chapter will include: Interesting Mike Newton action, Edward Cullen (no duh, right?) and Jacob family time! Yayyy!**


	7. Grocery Shopping, Dog Food, and In Laws

**Thank you so much for K.C.4evr for reviewing and making me work hard on updating. ILY!**

"... Hi?" I greeted, though it sounded more like a question. I walked up to him, mystified in more ways than one, but kept a careful distance between us. His face was, without a doubt, perfect at every single angle, and I was tempted to take another step to get a better look. The sane part left of me kept my feet rooted to the limited space of ground that I had; he was standing right in front of my door, and I was very aware that my sisters were getting closer to the truck with every heartbeat.

Edward Cullen smiled so beautifully that I had to fight the urge to peek behind my shoulder to confirm my suspicion that he wasn't waiting for me after all, but someone else. Some pretty girl that was smiling back at him, standing right behind me, and I was just making a fool of myself. But he was blocking _my_ way in front of _my_ old truck, so there must be something he wanted from me.

"Hello. I didn't get a chance to introduce myself to-"

"She's over there," I cut him off and motioned to where Natalie would be by now, stepping forward to open the car door. Edward froze, causing my eyes to widen as I stopped walking to look up at him, our faces inches apart.

I was stunned by the closeness, and I could tell that he wasn't breathing. His face was so much more handsome than I would've thought possible; before I could really comprehend what he was doing, he placed a shockingly cold hand on my arm and gently pushed away from me, standing a good three feet away.

We stood there, staring at each other warily, waiting for one of us to say something. He was gazing at me curiously with his strangely colored eyes, as if I was the most intriguing person in the world.

"Bella, I want to go home. What are you doing?" I heard Carly call out to me where she was climbing into the car from the other side.

I sighed and turned to the rusty red truck, not looking back at Edward. But I stopped, confused; someone had opened my door before I had the chance to do it myself, and it wasn't one of my sisters. I turned around, thoroughly perplexed, but Edward Cullen was gone.

* * *

"Bella has a boyfriend."

"WHAT?!" Alan and Chris crowed with laughter. Charlie cut them off easily with glares that meant, _shut up now, or no allowance for a month._ Ah, the perks of having a football coach as a father.

Everyone at the dinner table finally stopped moving. Sophia and Delilah had to clamp their tiny freckled hands on Aaron's mouth so that he wouldn't spit a meatball across the room. Henry's tail stopped wagging as Eli dropped his fork in his spaghetti. The only sound was Mandy making small baby noises, giggling and cooing at all of our traumatized faces.

Good grief. If I planned an escape route now, I could slip away undetected, have Carly set up a diversion…

"Bella, is this true?" my mother asked with a smile, her cheeks a light shade of pink. I shot the smirking Natalie the best angry glare that I could muster before I spoke, fighting to keep my voice from cracking under the humiliation. Somebody was going to pay, dammit.

"Of course not. I don't know what she's talking about," I told the entire table, trying not to blush and look guilty when I wasn't. Sadly, this always happened to me, and I ended up looking like I was on trial for robbing a bank.

"Natalie."

"She might as well! She orders me to not talk to him just so she can steal him away." I tried not to scoff. I was only trying to protect her from the seemingly callous and harsh boy that Edward had give the impression of being. This is what I got for trying to be a good sister. "You should've seen her face when he came to see me after school today. Bella totally scared him off."

I tried picturing the big gap of Natalie's brain that she reserved just for mindless accusations. "Who the hell is this _him_?" Charlie demanded. In my effort to hold what little dignity I had, I refused to respond to that.

"Edward Cullen." I was a little startled when Michael was the one who spoke up, grinning ear to ear as if he had just solved the biggest mystery of all time.

"I talked to his older brother, Emmett today." The image of the huge, older Cullen with dark curly hair that honestly scared me a little flashed in my mind as he continued. "I have gym with him- he's a cool guy. But anyway, he asked me if I was related to Bella, so I said yeah.

"I was wondering why he was asking about my baby sister when they're not even in the same grade, not to mention that he already has a girl." I rolled my eyes in embarrassment at this, watching his face turn the tiniest bit pink when he thought of Rosalie. **(Haha blushing's in the family)** "Emmett told me that his younger brother, who's a junior like Bella, had mentioned something about her. Thought it was interesting enough," he said, playful eyes boring into mine.

I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at my oldest brother. Even at this time, place, and situation, I still had the smallest speck of control left in me.

"Well, Bella, even if this Cullen boy's interested in you," I tried not to be offended by the way my father said this, as if he was doubtful that his daughter could attract a boy's attention, "I don't see why you need to be rude to Natalie." Carly snorted, but everyone ignored it.

"It's not like that. I don't care if Natalie talks to him; he's not my boyfriend, and he is _not_ interested in me. Kids at this school just take any chance to gossip about the new family that _transferred in the middle of the semester_, and apparently that includes Emmett Cullen."

Charlie visibly relaxed. Of course. Natalie having a new boy pursuit was nothing new to him, but the second it came to me, it was a totally different galaxy. Was it really that hard to believe that I couldn't bear the possibility of attracting at least one guy?

* * *

The next day was Saturday, which meant two things: grocery shopping, and family dinner with my future brother- in- law, Jacob. The first part I didn't really mind, but the second one was enough to make me want to crawl back into my bed and hide for the next ten years.

Despite the continuous rain, I woke up very early from a sleepless night before anyone else was awake. I crept down the stairs, knowing that I should enjoy the silence while it lasted. I made sure to close the door carefully when I left the house and drove around to find the only grocery store in Forks.

The sky was still so dark, but it didn't stop the unbroken line of cars at the lone stoplight that I sat at. I relaxed in my warm truck, watching the lights zoom past me in the darkness.

My mind drifted to Edward Cullen, once again, and I could feel chagrin warming my cheeks in the dim green light of my car when I stomped on the gas to start moving again.

What was his deal? First he's cold and indifferent, then he falls off the face of the earth for almost two weeks, only to drop right back in, trying to make conversation and waiting for me at my car as if we were old friends. I honestly didn't know how to feel about this person.

Was he talking to me so that he could get to Natalie like she said, or was it something else? I hadn't exactly given him the time to explain himself with my charming stubbornness. I just couldn't wrap my mind around any boy- especially one like Edward Cullen- being interested in me.

He must want to be with Natalie; she was always striving and succeeding to be perfect, obviously a great match for Edward Cullen. But for some reason, this made me extremely sad, knotting my stomach into billions of tangles that clenched whenever I thought of him.

I shook my head, attempting to erase my thoughts when I pulled into a space at the store and pulled my hood up to shield my face and hair from the rain. As I walked into the mart, I noticed that the only other car in the front parking lot was a shiny, silver car in the light of the street lamp, but brushed it off. **(Pahahaha)**

I grabbed a cart and started through the aisles, pulling out my long, wrinkled list of things we needed. Cat and dog food. I almost laughed; Eli had always loved animals, and we were constantly out of food for his mammal friends.

I took pride in keeping our house clean and orderly though all of the chaos and animals. If we kept the cats and dogs all out back and had company over, they would never even come close to guessing that we had ever had any animals in the house.

Spotting the massive bag of food, I tried unsuccessfully to heave it up and put it in the cart. "Ugh," I sighed angrily, finally able to lift it, but I was in no way capable of setting it in the cart without knocking over twenty shelves in the process. My eyes widened in shock when I started to fall back, the weight too much to handle against my unfortunate balance problems.

I cold, strong hand pressed against the small of my back, pulling me to stand up again. Seeming to appear out of nowhere, Edward took the colossal bag of food from me with the other hand, acting as if it was nothing when he easily placed it in my squeaky shopping cart.

"Does this happen to you often?" He asked me, grinning a crooked smile as he leaned casually against the aisle, releasing me.

"Nearly getting overwhelmed by a bag of dog food in grocery stores at four in the morning? Quite frequently," I responded, turning a dark shade of pink. He looked away suddenly, chuckling quietly under his breath.

"Why are you here?" I blurted awkwardly, hating how rude it sounded. Edward looked up, surprised.

"I have to pick something up for my father, Carlisle," he explained. I looked at him and arched an eyebrow; he didn't have anything with him, though I was sure this was the Carlisle Cullen that I heard about around school, who had adopted all of the Cullen children with his young wife, Esme. "I was about to get it when I heard your struggle all the way from the other side of the store. Thought that you would need help." I gave him a look.

"Funny." He smiled.

"Is dog food all you're getting?" he asked suddenly, reminding me of my other dilemma.

"Actually, I need cat food too, but…" I trailed off, deeply embarrassed. Of course, this made him laugh with delight. The beautiful sound distracted me from my annoyance. He had already picked up the sack of cat food and put it with my other bag when I looked up again. "Thanks," I mumbled, trying to sidetrack myself from his face by fumbling with my list.

"Anytime. If you don't mind my asking, why do you need all of this food? Are you trying to feed every hungry animal in Washington?" I gazed at him, debating whether to be annoyed or fascinated with his teasing tone.

I paused, and I could feel his amused eyes on me as I pushed against the basket before I could get it moving. He easily kept up with me. "My little brother likes animals," I told him. He raised his eyebrows, obviously thinking of my other siblings that he'd most likely seen in the small school. I sighed, wondering why I was telling him this.

"I have eleven brothers and sisters."

I waited for his response in slight dread, knowing it would sound something like Mike's. I picked up random items as I pushed on, waiting. But what he actually said surprised me. "You love them a lot."

"… Yes."

"It's very easy to tell by how you talk about you family." I couldn't think of anything to say to that, wondering why he was suddenly talking to me again, thinking of Natalie. "I'm sorry, but you're truly interesting."

"Me or my sister?" This took him a while to process.

"Natalie?" he finally asked, sounding perplexed.

"That's who you were looking for yesterday after school, right?" I finally stopped to look at him, my expression blunt. He was staring down at me with now dark honey eyes, as if I had just questioned him in Portuguese, and he seemed very deep in thought. I had to avert my gaze so I could remind myself to breathe.

"Your sister is very attractive." I braced myself. "But the way she thinks…"

"What?" I asked, clearing my throat, crossing three more items off of my list. Did he just say "_thinks"_?

"I mean just the way she acts. Natalie seems more like a person that would be with Mike Newton. Like her friend Jessica."

"Oh." I tried to hide the feelings that coursed through my veins. He hadn't been wanting to see Natalie the other day? He didn't want her attention? "Then who did you want to talk to?" I pressed, daring to breach into an unfamiliar territory, and at the same time, trying to push the cart again with the extra weight of all of my other groceries. Darn animals. He smiled a perfect lopsided grin again and gently took it from me.

"You." I stared after him, my face warm, as he started strolling gracefully past me. I had to start practically jogging to catch up with him, grabbing a few last items as I went along.

"But… why?" I managed to choke out, bewildered. He gave me a look like I was slow.

"I already told you. You're interesting. I hadn't gotten a chance to say hi to you on your first day here, so I was going to yesterday. Apparently you didn't agree with my plans." I took an interest in the floor while he wheeled my now full cart down to the check out area. Evidently, I would have to wait for someone to help check out my groceries.

"Well, I guess you got the chance now… Hi," The look on his face told me this was the plan all along. For some reason, I couldn't find anything wrong with that.

"Hi," he murmured, stopping the cart gently in the empty line. I looked up at him, not breaking our gaze this time.

"Did you get contacts?" I blurted unexpectedly, not realizing what I was doing until after I said it. Something changed in his eyes then, like he was putting up a guard that I hadn't noticed had been put down until now.

"No." He stepped away from the cart then, but I still stood there, my brow furrowed.

"But-"

"I should go get back to what I was supposed to get Carlisle." With that he turned and left in the opposite direction, disappearing in seconds.

"Miss?" The tired looking worker there that had finally showed up called out to me; it was now almost 4:30 and I had to check out. I walked up to my heavy cart, and I was surprised to touch the places where Edward's hands had been- it was ice cold.

I glanced back to where Edward had vanished as I wheeled the cart forward, but he was nowhere to be seen. I was outside the store, towing my purchases to the truck when I saw that the silver car that must've belonged to Edward was gone too.

~/~/~

My mind was whirling with everything that Edward had said on the drive back home, my thoughts moving to Natalie.

I knew her very well. When people first met her, she came off as shallow, or bratty, jealous, and self centered. But I had known her all of her life, so I could identify what she always hid on the inside. Natalie had always been insecure, and very sensitive when anything would be out of place or out of equilibrium in her life. Bring seemingly flawless was all a part of her delicate balance.

She would take up hours in the mirror, spending as much time as she could at sunny beaches to get rid of her pale skin to look the part of being clear of mistakes in every way. Part of her life would always be being picture perfect for everyone to see, having millions of friends and the faultless boy at all times. If that meant seeing millions of flawed boys, going through heartbreak after heartbreak to find one that she would deem perfect, so be it. She was searching for someone to cure all of her blemishes in his excellence, but that would be impossible, and she had always been going the wrong way to find this out.

If only she could see that Edward Cullen couldn't possibly be the answer. One look at his handsome, angelic face and family, I could imagine what she would see. How much of a fine quality diamond he appeared to be. But something about him… the way how everything is composed and isolated from the rest of the world gave me the impression that under all of the perfection were one million flaws of dark secrets that would only drive a person exactly like Natalie over the edge.

I sighed, wanting nothing more for Natalie to see this, but I knew it couldn't just happen like that. Eventually she would attempt to steal Edward's heart, and judging by what Edward had told me, it would only lead to disaster on her side. This would be, in her eyes, all my fault.

Maybe I could do as Edward had suggested a while before his abrupt exit- getting Mike to ask her out. I wondered idly as I prepared breakfast for everyone what I would have to do to get him to ask her out.

* * *

"So have you talked to your booyfrieeeend, Bellsie?" Eli teased me, grinning. I exhaled slowly out of my nose, huffing an exasperated breath.

"Boyfriend?" Alexandra hesitated, overhearing the remark my brother had made.

"This guy Emmett Cullen asked Michael about Bella in school. Something to do with his younger brother, Edward, talking about her. But," my father paused to wink at me, "according to Bells here, it supposedly means nothing. What about that, Natalie?" She smirked, and I wanted nothing more than to disappear right then.

Jacob had stopped his rambling with Carly, and a look of great relief washed over her face. Jacob just continued to stare at me with offending shock.

"If you ask me, I don't think Bella or Natalie should even talk with Cullen." I usually didn't pay Jacob any attention when he opened his mouth to talk, but this sparked my attention, curiosity getting the best of me. I couldn't help but notice how Charlie immediately gave his full attention to what Jacob had to say.

"Why?" I asked, not knowing why I felt so defensive about this.

"They're freaks- all of them. My old man believes in these little fairy tales about how we descend from like, coyotes or wolves. And the Cullens are the sworn enemies of our people, some sort of leech." He said 'sworn enemies" like he was talking about fairy dust or unicorns.

"You mean vampire?" Delilah piped up in her best school teacher voice. Charlie raised an eyebrow. _Vampire_? He was saying the Cullens were vampires?

"Sure, whatever. Stupid legend says that they're not 'normal' vampires. They don't suck humans or something. Animal blood instead- like that makes them suddenly good." He paused to cram more food into his mouth. "But it's just some 'scary' story he used to tell to freak me out. I don't believe a word of it, but whatever they are, the Cullens have always been weird people. Whether they've been living for hundreds of years or not."

I could only stare at him, my mind reeling. He had to be joking. It would be impossible. I couldn't fit Edward's angel face and the image of a vampire with fangs together.

"Leech or not, he's hot," Natalie sang, obviously not taking a thing about Jacob's story seriously. I sighed. Apparently nobody but Charlie did; Renne gave Alex a _control you fiancé_, look, and started feeding Amanda again.

"Charlie, I would make sure Natalie doesn't get too close to this guy, but you shouldn't have to worry about Bella, here. You know how she is with boys." Carly's mouth popped open, while Alex and Renee both smacked his arm, but I didn't really see any of it. Standing up from the table, I left without a word.

~/~/~

Someone knocked on my door, but I didn't bother to answer it. I shouldn't care what Jacob said- he was a pig. A thoughtless, without a sliver of common sense type of filthy mutt in every sense of the word. So why should I care? My mind was racing, going back and forth between Jacob's story and his hurtful words. I didn't notice that Carly had come to sit on my bed until she finally spoke.

"I have an idea, you know."

"Dad will kill you," I said in a bored voice, smothered by my pillow.

"If I'm going down, you and all of my other minions are coming with me." She had to stop now or I would start smiling. "Are you seriously going to let him get away with saying that? You're my sister for crying out loud! If you don't do anything, I will."

"Don't say I didn't try to stop you," I sighed, considering all of the things she would try to pull.

"Alright, just be downstairs before Lex and The Suicide Fiancé leave." I listened to her footsteps as she walked away and closed the door quietly. Ten minutes later I swallowed and walked down the first few steps of the top stairs to see Renee saying goodbye to Alexandra while Jacob was walking outside, talking to Charlie about the Mustangs.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

Then I saw it. The quick beam of a flashlight through the front yard. Please don't flash again, please don't flash again. Someone- probably Carly- flashed their flashlight once more. All systems go.

And of course, that's when Alex started walking out to the car. I shot down the stairs, my socks slipping on the hardwood, but I caught myself right before my face became a part of the floor. "Wait, wait, Alex," I said, a little breathless as I grabbed her arm in the doorway. She stopped, turning around to smile at me.

"Hey, Bells. Listen, I'm sorry about what Jacob said at dinner. I don't know what got into him; he's usually not like that…" But I wasn't listening, just nodding absentmindedly as Charlie walked back into the house, laughing at something Jacob said like it was the funniest thing in the world.

"Alex! Come on, it's a long drive, babe!" Jacob called from outside.

Right then, I could've sworn I heard Carly whisper, "GO!" from somewhere in the night. Because that's when the sprinklers all went off, drenching Jacob with freezing water. Suddenly I felt a lot better.

I couldn't help myself when I started grinning and turned back to Alex, who looked ready to jump out there and save Jacob.

"It is _perfectly_ fine."

* * *

**A/N: Whooooo ten pages. Got some important info on Natalie, hmm? It's important to the plot, so try to soak it all in and let her character in your mind growww. Okay, so the interesting Mike Newton action part I promised last chapter didn't exactly happen this chapter, but it was *mentioned*, so that counts right? I'll be updating my stories a lot more (hopefully) now, so please review. (: Ten reviews again, and I'll give all of you guys a popsicle. :D**

**B/N: It's actually 8 pgs long, but I'll let her have her glory. ^_^ I hope you like this chapter 'cause it took us hella long to put it together. Please review, and check out my new oneshot, "What Did You Teach My Daughter."**


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